Hon. Clement Jimbo represents Abak/Etim Ekpo/ Ika Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State at the House of Representatives. The deputy chairman, House Committee on National Planning and Economic Development, in this interview with CHUKWU DAVID, speaks on a broad range of national issues.
What is your view on where Nigeria is currently standing in terms of socio-political and economic progress after 63 years of independence?
My sincere response to your question is that Nigeria has done creditably well at 63. At independence, we had a population of 45 million people, with a gross domestic product of about $4.2 billion. Let’s fast forward to 63 years; Nigeria’s population is estimated at over 200 million people. If you check the percentage increase, you will realise that it is something to thank God for. If you look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria today, it is $420 billion. And if you do the mathematics and check the percentage increase, you will equally know that there is significant progress.
The question is: Have we leveraged on the increases we have recorded from independence till date to translate to core development in all sectors of Nigeria? If time permits me, I will equally x-ray that. But on the overall, I will tell you that Nigeria has done very well. Also, if you look at Nigeria vis-a-vis other African countries that got independence around the time Nigeria had independence, about 17 African countries, Nigeria is still rated the giant of Africa in terms of all indices. With a population of over 200 million people, it will be injustice against Nigeria for you to rate the country with other countries with population of 10 to 30million. There are some countries within Africa that Lagos State is bigger than, and that is just one state in Nigeria. So, for us Nigerians to be able to manage ourselves, tolerate ourselves since 1960 and enjoy unbroken democracy since 1999 till date, is something that we should thank God for and also thank our leaders, who have shown strength in leadership. Despite all the shortcomings, we still find it expedient to remain together as a nation. Are there challenges in our country? Of course! Are there challenges in other countries? Of course! Are we tackling our challenges? Yes! So, Nigeria at 63 is what I am proud of and I can tell you with every amount of seriousness and confidence that Nigeria is doing well.
The nation’s economy is currently in tartars and this obviously stems from the fact that Nigeria is solely dependent on revenue from oil. Are you not concerned that diversification of the economy is becoming a mirage despite abundant deposits of other mineral resources across the states of the federation?
Every development comes with its own inconveniences. I am not aware that the Nigerian economy is in tartars as described by you. Just a few days ago, I read that the executive is planning to transmit the 2024 budget of N26.1 trillion to the National Assembly. That is not an economy that is in tartars. A budget is an estimate; which means that we are focused on what we want to achieve in the 2024 fiscal year. And machineries of government are working round the clock to ensure that this is achieved. That is not an economy that is in tartars. Recently, the Senate confirmed the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); that is also not an economy that is in tartars. Like I usually say, any couple that desires to have a baby after marriage, must deliberately and patiently wait for nine months for the pregnancy to attain its full gestation period. The pregnant woman must be willing and ready to bear the labour pains and go to the labour room and come out, so that they can enjoy the cry of the new born baby. This is an administration that just came into power few months ago and when the administration came into power, it took a decision that is very critical to the development of this country, which is the removal of oil subsidy. Every other presidential candidate, who campaigned in the last general election agreed that Nigeria has reached a threshold where the continuous inclusion of subsidy in our budget is not acceptable anymore. So, the President deemed it necessary to remove it. With that singular decision, the country will obviously need to adjust to the impact of that decision and that is exactly what you are seeing. I am from the private sector before I ventured into politics and won an election and got to the office where I am. The fuel subsidy is out and many palliative measures are being rolled out. Ministers have been appointed and sworn into office. They are equally checking the records to ensure that their register is up to date, so that it will include those that should actually benefit from it. And these things do not happen overnight. Time must be allowed for things to take shape.
Don’t you think that it would have been better if President Bola Tinubu had put some palliatives in place to cushion the effects of subsidy removal before taking the action?
He is the leader; he was very right in the action he took. He is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is no better decision that he would have taken to make any difference if he took the decision six months, one year or two years after. In the 2023 budget, provisions were not even made for fuel subsidy beginning from June, and he took over office on May 29, 2023. That was just a day to get to June. So, where will he get the money for subsidy? In my own opinion, that was the wisest decision the President took. That decision was not included in his written speech. He said it impromptu because that was the real thing. Like I always say, every decision of a leader comes with its own inconveniences, whether you take it now or later. So, the President took a very good decision. Before the President took that decision, where was Nigeria? After the President has taken the decision, where is Nigeria? There is no difference if you ask me, except maybe somebody just wants to be dubious about it. But I can tell you very clearly that Nigeria is far better off. Before the President took that decision, we never knew the quantity of petroleum product we consumed in this nation every day. But right now, if you Google it, you can be sure how much product, litres of PMS, DPK, AGO that we consume in this country every day.
After the removal of fuel subsidy, the value of the Naira has also been falling uncontrollably, as prices of goods continue to skyrocket. Are you not concerned about this worrisome trend in the country?
One of the major problems we have in this country is lack of patriotism or lack of love for our fellow citizens. It is not the problem of government; it’s not the problem of the President. The people who are arbitrarily increasing the prices of their goods do so to inflict pains on fellow citizens. Even when they still have old stock, they increase the price as if they have bought new stock. For example, petroleum products; people that sell petrol, the moment there is a slight increment in the price of the products, they will immediately increase the price. Is that caused by the President? Why can’t they just finish selling the entire old stock, and when they go to market and buy at the current rate, then they sell at the current price? What they do is lack of patriotism. But when the President or the regulatory authority reduces one Naira or two Naira from the price of petroleum products, they don’t effect the change immediately in their stations. We are the ones suffering ourselves because we are unpatriotic to this country and our fellow citizens. Why should it be so; it is not the President. I can tell you for free that the President of this country and the former President, all mean well for this country. There is no President of a country that would want the citizens to suffer; there is none to the best of my knowledge. They all mean well, but the citizens, do they mean well for themselves? How do you treat the house help you brought to take care of your children, and how do you treat your children? Recently, I read about a particular State somebody buried another human being alive; is that the President? It’s not the President. We must show love to our fellow citizens. Let the prices of goods remain where they are, and when you go to the market to buy at the new rates, you come back and adjust your prices. So, the President did well and we must equally reciprocate because the President is a human being. We must give them the support in every policy they reel out for our own betterment.
Have you heard that the Federal Government is contemplating to re-denominate the Naira. In case this is true, do you think that it will provide solution to the uncontrollable fall of the Naira?
The re-denomination stuff they are talking about, number one, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says that everything we do in this country has to be in Naira. Why are we focusing on the exchange rate of dollar, what are we using the dollar for? You go to market to buy pepper or tomato or water leaf, the person tells you that the rate of dollar has gone up. What has that got to do with dollar? It is still because of our lack of patriotism, so to say. Who are the people exerting pressure on the Naira? It is those who are sending their children to school abroad, leaving the shores of Nigeria, and are looking for dollars to send to other countries; those who are in authority but refused to invest in their country and instead they invest in other countries. They are using Naira here to chase dollars, thereby mounting pressure on the Naira. It still boils down to the lack of love we have for our country. For instance, why should the Minister of Education prefer to send his child to another country to study, when he is involved in making policies that will make our education system functional for Nigerians. That’s non-patriotism; it’s not the problem of the President. It happens over time, and that’s the same way we must begin to adjust all these anomalies over time. It cannot happen overnight, and it must begin with us in the media. I know a particular media house, everything it says about this country almost everyday, is in the negative. Does it mean that there is nothing good you can mirror to the outside world about your country? You talk about insecurity as if Nigeria is the only country faced with insecurity. If you think that Nigeria is worst, go to Israel, go to Gaza, go to Palestine, go to Ukraine or Russia.
You tend to blame the citizens for everything that is wrong in the country. On the issue of pump price of Petrol after subsidy removal, was it not the failure of regulatory agencies, which ought to have ensured that old stocks of fuel were sold at the old price?
Also, on the issue of use of dollar in Nigeria, is it also not the government that ought to enforce the law? I agree with you completely. Apart from the President, the vice-president, the governors and the deputy governors, am not sure of any other public officer in Nigeria that has immunity. We have different anti-graft agencies; we equally have the media. What happened to our investigative journalism? Like you talked about dollar, where is the evidence? The dollar is not manufactured in Nigeria. It came from somewhere. Have you carried out an investigation and name names? For example, the 2023 budget that is being implemented, how much of the budget has been implemented? So, if the citizens and the media world do not take responsibility and ownership by insisting that the right thing be done by the implementing agencies, then you are giving the Executive and the Legislature room to do what ought not to be done.
Are there no statutory institutions of government that should ensure that dollar doesn’t circulate in the country as the country’s official currency? You that you are a media professional, you are just alleging, where is the evidence?
Of course, if there are infractions, we have a stipulated way of addressing such infractions.
Are you not aware that Nigerians have dollar accounts in Nigerian banks?
I am not aware, where is the evidence? I am a lawmaker. I am not supposed to make speculations that I cannot provide the evidence, documented evidence that we can rely on. Even judges cannot make a pronouncement on any matter without evidence. We are running a constitutional democracy and there are procedures. If you found that somebody violated a section of the law, what are you supposed to do? We need to test our Judiciary. At least, take the evidence to them and let them say otherwise. And even if they say otherwise, you can still petition the judge or report the judge, and let others look at it on the merit. I believe so much that if the citizens live up to their expectations, there is no any leader that will not sit up. For example, we have zonal intervention projects; how many citizens are aware? Because as a lawmaker, you may want to keep it away from the constituents, and use it for your own personal aggrandizement. It is now left for the media, because the budget is a public document when it is passed into law; you can download it, you can scrutinise it. There are 360 members of the House of Representatives, so it is a herculean task. But if you are not ready to do it, then you should not complain. If we are going to fix this country, we must be ready to stand face to face with those that are saddled with responsibility to fix this country and ask them critical questions, which is what I am doing in my own circle.
Why are you in the National Assembly; what are your goals and aspirations?
First, what motivated me to do what I am doing; in 2019, I ran for the office of the President of Nigeria. But before then, I worked in 2014 as Assistant Project Manager in a Construction company in Asokoro, Abuja. The then President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, gave an instruction to the then Nigerian Minister of Interior, now Senator Abba Moro, to recruit Nigerians into immigration service. We all know what happened. The recruitment ended in a fiasco, where people of my generation, many Nigerian youths, who went to enroll in the Immigration service died; some were amputated, some pregnant women had miscarriages. I sat in my office and saw the gory picture being reeled out of a television channel. I asked myself, is this what is expected of leadership? To the best of my knowledge, this was a clear case of leadership failure. Because everything rises and falls on leadership. How can people that want to serve their nation be made to pay the supreme price? So, I didn’t just sit down and complain. It was then that I decided that I was going to challenge that government. And we did it in 2019. I didn’t even mind that I was going to stand election with people like Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and Kingsley Moghalu. I didn’t look at their size; it was based on my conviction that something was critically wrong. Leadership is not measured by size; it’s based on the content of what a man carries. And I knew as at that time, I was well vast on the ideas, solutions that would have turned the tides of Nigeria at that time. So, we began, and it has brought us to where we are today, where the laws first need to be put in place. In 2018, I postulated that continually putting Power under the exclusive legislative list of the federal government has over stayed it’s welcome. The Ninth Assembly deemed it necessary to remove Power from the exclusive legislative list. It was my agitation. I didn’t just sit down and made noise. I engaged the system with every fiber; with every medium I found myself; I ensured that I injected ideas, solutions to problems. I already mentioned that NYSC has already over-stayed its usefulness as far as I am concerned. What made Nigeria to be a viable nation prior to independence was Agriculture. And when we discovered oil in 1956, we abandoned Agriculture and moved to oil. Many people who were in Agriculture servicing that sector washed their hands off and moved to oil, where they could make quick money, forgetting that we were supposed to cultivate agriculture and bring out resources from the sector to service our oil and gas sector, because what God gave man was soil and not furniture.
Are you coming up with a bill on what you are proposing?
That’s good. Last week, my bill was listed for first reading. The bill is on technology transfer; to set up commission for technology transfer. What does that bill intend to achieve? If you look at our solid minerals, it is in the exclusive legislative list of the Federal Government. And one of the solid minerals in large quantity in this country is lithium. Lithium is what is used to produce battery for the handset and other battery-operated devices. As at one month ago, the National Bureau of Statics said that over 200 million handsets are used in Nigeria, and none of those batteries are produced in Nigeria, and we have over 200 million population. Why can’t we make sure that technology is transfered to this country? If a country like China wants to produce handset and ship to us, we tell them, wait, before you ship it, you will teach us the technology to supply the batteries in Nigeria; if not, take your product and sell it to your citizens. So, if China produces one hundred million handsets for Nigeria, we produce the batteries. This will help to reduce unemployment and bring foreign exchange as well as transfer technology to us. That is what the law seeks to achieve, and it is currently being processed for second reading. And I like what the Minister of solid minerals, Dele Alake, said. He said that we will not sell our solid minerals raw to expatriates again. You must give us a blueprint on how to process to add value to the solid minerals to the world; and let the world know that Nigeria is sitting up. Now, the world is going into renewable energy, solar, and solar uses battery. If we begin to produce battery for the sector, do you know what that will do for the country? So, this is a timely law that is currently being put in place.
You mentioned that the NYSC scheme has over-stayed its usefulness. Are you suggesting that it should be scrapped?
Yes, completely. And this is the essence: Nigeria is divided into six geopolitical zones; part of the suggestions I put forward and am still putting forward is this: you have called it six geo-political zones, let’s also call it six Agricultural zones. Now, instead of sending these Corps members to the hinterlands to roam the streets in the name of serving the nation, when they come out of the university with fresh ideas, bobbling with energy, let’s deploy them to these agricultural zones. And in these geo-political zones which I am proposing for agricultural zones, there is comparative advantage in crop production. If we push these young minds into this sector, they will use technology to enhance our agricultural produce. They will have the way to stay; government will provide for them. They will have food to eat. So, what they are going to eat is not a problem, and the people will not take advantage of them. Then, instead of appointing one Minister to oversee the entire Ministry of Agriculture, we appoint six ministers, one for each agricultural zone. Go there and look at what is prevalent in this zone; what this zone can produce within a year. We should channel all the resources and energy that are available in this sector and cultivate within one year. If you are able to produce one billion worth of produce, Nigeria as a nation buys it from that zone and pays a percentage to the Minister. That will help to reduce the hunger in the land, as it will boost our agricultural production. These are the ideas, and giving me the power, these are the things we will implement within a space of one, two, three years and this country will have a turn around. The same thing applies to the power sector. Instead of putting power in the Exclusive List, let’s remove it from there and put it in the concurrent list, so that State government will equally have power to generate, transmit and distribute.